Hit the Road Jack
I have three choices regarding how I want to come to town. I can take an Oregon Highway; I can take a back country road or I can take an Interstate Freeway. Oh, the choices. I typically take the shortest route to work and that involves the freeway.
If you have done any driving at all, freeway driving that is, you know at one point you must enter an on-ramp. In our area, on-ramps are typically one lane, but in larger metropolitan areas, there can be more than one lane entering the freeway. The thing about on-ramps, it seems everyone has their own idea of how fast they should go.
I was taught, when merging onto the freeway, you should be driving at or near the speed of other cars by the time you get to the first freeway lane. I have noticed however that many people do not attempt to accelerate until they get to the freeway. We might be traveling 35 or 40 miles per hour all the way up the ramp. It really is quite dangerous. It can cause problems as cars try to merge with freeway traffic. (And, ssshhhh, it is a bit frustrating) I have found myself thinking, “did you not read your driver’s manual?”
Here is another scenario I have found myself in. You are traveling with a group of cars. One car speeds ahead, maybe even out of sight for a moment. But then you come up to a stop light, and there they sit, waiting. And I think to myself…isn’t that kind of like getting to Heaven?
We, and some of the people around us, are on the same road but traveling at different speeds and different places along that road. The truck driver has been on the road longer than I. I only travel the freeway for about 3 minutes. He travels for days at a time. You might use ramp #55, while I use #59. I may have started driving in 1979 and you, much earlier. But the point is we are traveling the same direction.
Humans are prone to quickly assess and then judge another. We become proud of our journey. We like to be acknowledged that we have been on this road for a very long time. We may have tripped over a crack in the road or stumbled over a small rock in our path, but we never left the road. We look at those who behind us and think they should be at least even with us in our journey. “If I can do it; they can do it!” “And should”, we think to ourselves.
Of course, how fast we arrive at our destination depends on the speed at which we are driving. Often the speed in which we are driving depends on those around us. It also often depends on the very vehicle we are driving.
Remember as a child, falling asleep in the back of the car on a long car ride or road trip? Wasn’t it grand? Time just slipped away as you slept peacefully. Oh, to be a child again. A child with all the innocence and wonder and awe that came with childhood.
Jesus once said, “…unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3-4 NKJV
I saw a poster online that read “The narrow road is the hardest road…but it’s the only way home.” It reminded me of an afternoon drive with Wendell about 15 years ago.
